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I heard this thing a while back. Some one was wanting a tattoo and their was saying "yeah, so you can express your individuality, just like all your friends!" I've thought about that for a long time. I never did end up with a tattoo, much to my surprise and am too old now, nor would they go well with my family/personal life/upscale business. Iv'e also changed my viewpoint significantly since i was 18 and immortal and I know that my viewpoint for a tattoo would change after 20 years or so too. I saw a woman who was in her 50's that had some tattoos a while back. They were blurred and faded and aged her quite a bit. Definitly not the look I am going for when I am in my later years. Someone once told me they have improved the ink for tattos so much, unfortunately they haven't made that many improvements in skin during that time.

As far as tattoos go I have all my boys names tattoed on my (after the DNA test) and that is it. I do not have my wifes name because even though she may always be mine there is no garauntee of that, my boys will always be mine.

As for a welding tattoo, well I have contemplated that alot and the best thing that I feel would suit me would be a weld bead about 3/8" to 1/2" wide much like the barbed wire or chain link at the bicep location all the way around like your arm was two sections of a pipeline.

The most important thing that many have already mentioned is, make sure it is something you will not regret in the future. If you have to think about removing it in the future DO NOT GET IT.

As for a welding tattoo, well I have contemplated that alot and the best thing that I feel would suit me would be a weld bead about 3/8" to 1/2" wide much like the barbed wire or chain link at the bicep location all the way around like your arm was two sections of a pipeline.

I kinda like that idea for a tat, artisticly speaking. I don't have any attatchment to barbed wire or chain links or other stuff you normally see encircling folk's arms. Those things don't mean much to me. I never made my living with those items. I guess if I made a carreer out of being a rigger, a chain might have meaning in my life, or if I was a carreer barbed wire fence stringer, barbed wire might mean something to me. All those things mean to me is something to lock up my stuff with or pull my broken car home with or lift something with or something to keep somebody out of some place they don't belong. A weld bead would at least have some personal meaning, to me.

Anyhow, I don't have any cause I've always felt that if something was THAT important to me that I would want to put it on my body forever, there would be NO QUESTION in my mind as to WHAT the tatoo would be, or represent, though the details of it's look would be up for debate. Nothing yet has really come on me like a lightning strike that didn't end up going away after awhile, so I guess there's no reason to get a tattoo so far.

A welding tattoo .... Okay, I'm not going to go into all the "think about what you want, because you'll be looking at it for the next fifty years" thing, because these guys have covered it pretty well, along with the safety issues, blahblahblah. I do want to be fair and say that I have known several guys with arm tats that have to keep them covered up on the job. Some companies have a rule about them, so something to think about. What you do, that's your choce, just be sure you're happy with it, okay? End of sermon.

Speaking strictly as an artist, there's a lot of things you can do. Torching a cursive word or name (with the lit torch at the end, "burning" the word in), cutting steel with a shower of sparks, making a "patch" out of steel plate .... Personally, I like a little monster or critter standing by an oxy/acy rig, holding a lit torch, and wearing a welding helmet, like Ed Roth's Rat Fink or something. The same critter could be coming out of a black "hole" (or hatch, or window, or whatever) and welding a steel plate or patch onto your skin, too.

(Speaking of critters, I saw a neat design for a tattoo. One of the hot-rod monsters in jeans, t-shirt, and welding goggles swinging a lit torch like a baseball bat, and slicing the roof off a slammed Ford touring car. The torch had a long flame on it, and there was a trail of sparks where the curve had sliced through the car pillars. Kool goofy design, daddy-o ...)